Bay Islands Sign Language, also known as French Harbour Sign Language, is an indigenous
village sign language of
Honduras
Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...
. It started in the village of
French Harbour on the island of
Roatán and spread to the neighbouring island of
Guanaja.
There is a high incidence of
Usher syndrome in French Harbour, which causes deafness and then
blindness as well later in life. Because of this, BISL has developed both visual and
tactile modes.
References
External links
*Ben Braithwaite
Documenting language across modalities: visual and tactile sign language in the Bay Islands Data deposit.
Village sign languages
Sign languages of Honduras
Deafblindness
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